Day 7

It's been 7 days! I've been on my journey for AN ENTIRE WEEK. I exercised 6 out of these 7 days... (and I really felt guilty about the one day that I missed). I haven't had any sweets, chips or soda so far. I'm feeling so pumped up right now. I'm ready for week two... Bring it on!

You know, my daughter bought me two pairs of jeans a couple of years ago. This is the pair that I'm really dying to get into. The label says size 15, but I can barely get them over my rear end, let alone zip them up.

Yuck! I hate how my stomach looks. I look like I'm pregnant.

The top of my double stomach actually looks like a boob in this picture.

This is the second pair that have been hanging in my closet for soooo long. These are actually a size 14 wide, but at least I can pull these up over my rear end, I just can't zip these up either.



My daughter asked me why I wanted to post unattractive pictures of myself like this. I told her because I am determined to wear both pairs of jeans one of these days and putting myself out there like this keeps me accountable.    

Inspiration picture: Kelly Osbourne



Glucose: 212 (Down 49 more points! Wow! What a difference a week makes.)
Weight: 185 (No change here, but I must have gotten up to go to the bathroom at least 4 or 5 times last night so I know I'm on the way to losing inches.

Daily Food Journal:

Breakfast: Steel cut oatmeal, with blueberries, chopped walnuts and flaxseeds (I took the picture before I remembered to put the flaxseeds in... oh and I had decaf coffee, too.
Hey, I read that walnuts have the most, and best quality of, healthful antioxidants among common nuts. They're a great source of protein, too.
Lunch: Roasted garlic hummus, romaine lettuce, tomatoes on whole wheat bread, 1 apple
and a hot cup of green tea with honey
Snack: 1 hard boiled egg
Dinner: 2 slices of rotisserie chicken, mixed vegetables and 2 slices of an organic tomato

Notes: I tried to keep my body moving after I had breakfast. Cleaning the apartment helped a lot then my daughter and I worked out at the gym again... this time for 45 minutes. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and 15 minutes on the machines. I'm so proud of my daughter and it feels really good to have a work out partner throughout my journey. She's on a journey of her own, too.

Just remember: Don't stop, you are closer than you think!!! We will be stronger, faster, leaner and healthier this time next year!!! Do no give up! You can do it! We will keep moving even if the scale does not!!!

Day 6

Hi there, today I have good news and bad news. The bad news is, I wear a uniform to work and I have been squeezing into my size 16 pants for months now. I didn't want to have to order pants in a size 18, even though my smaller pants have been cutting into my stomach so much that I have bruises. The good news is, my uniform pants aren't loose yet on me or anything, but since I've begun my journey 6 days ago, for the first time in months, I'm actually comfortable in them. I can breathe while I'm at work and it's a really good feeling.

Also, today I had training at work. I debated about what to do for lunch. You see, my co-worker and I always have lunch together on days we have training which is only about twice a year. We usually go to Panera Bread, which is better then say, McDonalds, but I'm just not ready to eat out... I'm scared. I know it probably sounds silly, but I am really, really scared of failing yet again. That's why I'm being pretty strict with myself. It's because I have to be.

I am a compulsive eater and I have to keep reminding myself  of that. I honestly don't know how to stop myself when I'm enjoying the wrong kinds of food. Before my journey, I couldn't have a bag of potato chips in front of me while I was watching T.V., even if it was a really big bag. Within no time at all, the entire bag would be nothing more than a memory. If I had a craving for something sweet, even though my doctor wants to put me on insulin, I didn't think twice about it. I would go to the all night store and pick out not just one, but two candy bars. A kit kat bar and an almond joy or m&m's and peanut chews. My glucose sky rocketed and I would get tingling in my hands and feet and sometimes I'd wake up nauseous, but do you think that stopped me? Not one bit, my friend. After a high calorie dinner, I would eat those two candy bars right after I had that big bag of chips.

I don't know what damage I may have done to my body down through the years with all of the sugary, artery clogging, cancer causing, high sodium crap that I've stuffed my face with... but No More! I want this weight off, once and for all. I want to be healthy. This is why I like the picture so much at the top of this post. I wished I'd followed that advice a long time ago. When I see my doctor in July, I want to hear good things when she looks at the results from my lab work. No, I'm not ready to eat out, I'm just not. I will not allow myself to fail. It's only been 6 days so far, but if I stay on track then tomorrow, I can celebrate the first full week of my journey.

Inspiration picture: Chaka Khan (She's a vegan now.)



Weight: 185
Glucose: 261- (This time my weight stayed the same but my glucose went down. Hey, I'm not complaining, it's down 9 points since yesterday).

Daily Food Journal:
Breakfast: Special K with Berries and decaf
Lunch that I packed: Tomato basil hummus, lettuce, tomatoes on whole wheat, 1 apple
Snack: 1 box of raisins

Dinner: 1 slice of left over rotisserie chicken, 1 baked sweet potato, mixed vegetables
and 1 cup of hot green tea with 2 teaspoons of honey


Notes: My daughter and I worked out at the gym for 30 minutes. I used just about every machine in there tonight. I increased the weight on the machines and I pushed myself to do just a few more then I did the last time. Also, when I got back home, I cleaned the bathroom, so I'm sure I burned off even more calories... like the butter I used on the sweet potato...LoL. Yeah, I know, I'll have to work on that, but for the most part, I feel like it was another good day.

Day 5

This is me, by the way. I had my daughter take a couple of pictures of me on Memorial Day. These were taken right before we went to the track. At the time I was 188 pounds.

Basically, I wanted to post these pictures so that I would remember why I started this journey in the first place. I don't ever want to give up, even when I reach my goal weight... and I will.

Monday, I made my husband a grilled cheese sandwich. Now, I loooove cheese and as I was putting a couple of pats of butter in the pan and slicing thick slices of cheddar off the block, all I could think was... I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, too... bad. The entire time I stood over the stove flipping that perfectly golden temptation, I was having some serious cravings. Thankfully, as I came awfully close to having that 'one little slice that couldn't possibly hurt me,' I thought really hard about it first and decided it just wasn't worth it.

I can't count the times I've dieted in my life. It's something I've been doing off and on since I was a teenager. Even though I've lost weight in the past, I've never kept it off and I know me well enough to know that it doesn't take a whole lot to trigger those cravings. If I see a commercial on television showing food, if my co-worker brings something yummy for lunch, if I'm at the mall and pass by the eatery and take a whiff of the aromas around me, if I just have one of something incredibly fattening... it doesn't matter, I fail miserably after that.

I don't know about the rest of you, but giving in to one temptation only leads to wanting another. If I have a cheeseburger then I may as well have the fries, too. It comes with the meal anyway, right? And since I already messed up, I may as well stop at the store and grab a bag of chocolate chip cookies for dessert and get it out of my system. I mean, I can just start over fresh tomorrow, right? Wrong! For me, once I fail, it takes me weeks, sometimes months to get back on track then it's only a matter of time before another craving hits me hard and everything goes downhill all over again. As much as I wanted that grilled cheese sandwich, I had to remind myself that cheese is loaded with fat, salt and calories... and even then it was soooo hard. But I resisted the temptation and the next day when I stepped on the scale, I was 2 pounds lighter. If I had caved, I wouldn't have had that victory. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I will never, ever allow myself a treat here and there, but not yet... for now it's too soon. Saying no to temptation paid off for me and for anyone reading... it will pay off for you, too. Just hang in there even when it's really hard.

Inspiration picture: Raven Symone



Weight: 185 
Glucose: 270 (Down 2 points, but it seems that I'm doing better with my weight than I am with my glucose)

Daily Food Journal:
Breakfast: Special K with berries and rice milk, with decaf
Lunch: Tomato basil hummus, lettuce, tomatoes on whole wheat & 1 apple
Snack: 1 orange

Dinner: Mixed vegetables with broccoli and spinach mixed in, 2 slices of rotisserie chicken, almonds and a hot cup of green tea with honey.

Notes: The mixed vegetables that I cooked for dinner included carrots, corn, peas and green beans which was 4 veggies, so I added a package of frozen spinach and broccoli to the pot so that I could max out on veggies tonight. I Googled 'how many almonds are in one serving' and I was surprised that it was 23. Being diabetic, I didn't want to over do it on the carbs, so I counted out 15 instead, even though I really wanted the other 8.

I was really hungry after lunch today. It was hard for me to wait almost 2 hours for my snack and even after I ate it, I still wanted more food. I am so accustomed to eating whatever I want whenever I want without giving it a second thought. I drank a bottle of water instead, hoping that it would help fill me up and I was glad that it did. I also searched the web for other weight loss blogs for inspiration... that helped, too.

Day 4

I discovered some information that actually helped me a lot and I'm hoping that it will be helpful to those of you that are trying to get the weight off, too. Okay, I always wondered how people knew the exact amount of calories they should have? In my Biggest Loser journal, it tells you how to determine your daily calorie budget. I was surprised at how simple it was.

Your present weight x 7 = your daily calorie need for weight loss.

My beginning weight was 196 so, 196 x 7 = 1372 calories per day. I quoted from the book again:

"As you lose weight, you'll need to reassess and reduce your calorie budget continually in order to break through plateaus and keep losing weight. The Biggest Loser contestants lose a lot of weight during their first few weeks at the Ranch. But after they've been at the Ranch for awhile and have less weight to lose, they must increase the intensity of their workouts and carefully track their calories to keep losing."

With that in mind, now that I'm 186 pounds, I reassessed my daily calorie budget.

186 x 7= 1302 calories per day (I can work with that... I think.)

You know, I'm hoping that the motivational pictures at the head of each post are inspiring you and getting you pumped up. They say that motivational  pictures instill positive thinking and inspire people to achieve more by thinking differently. Inspiring color photos of landscapes or athletes with words of wisdom urges us onward and upward to accomplish things we've never thought possible. All I can say is that each of the pictures have certainly encouraged me. I truly feel energized every time I look at them, so I hope it's doing wonders for all of you.

Inspiration picture: Kirstie Alley



Weight: 186 (This is a 10 pound loss that I'm still scratching my head over. Now, I've heard that weight can drop pretty quickly during the first week, so I guess that's what's going on. When I think about what I was eating before my journey and how I'm eating now, it's a total 180. I haven't had sodas, sweets or potato chips and I don't always have meat. For the first time in a long time, I'm eating fruits and vegetables every day. I'm also trying  to push myself to work out every night. I just hope and pray that I can stay motivated because I really want to be healthier.)

Glucose: 272 (My glucose is up 2 points from yesterday although I'm not quite sure why.) 

Daily Food Journal:
Breakfast: Special K with berries and rice milk, decaf
Lunch: Plain non fat yogurt, with mueslix added
Snack: 1 hard boiled egg
Dinner: Lean Cuisine - Steak tips Portabello (very salty)

This is the gym at the apartments where I live. I worked out for 30 minutes, treadmill & machines.

Notes: You know, I get up really early for work and I'm always dragging.... always. Before, it seemed like I only had energy when I ate chocolate and drank coffee and Mountain Dew. Well, I'm noticing that I have more energy. I'm not dragging at all today even without the soda and chocolate... (and no, I'm not giving up coffee. I've got to draw the line somewhere...LoL). It gets me to thinking though, if I feel like this after 4 days, I'm really looking forward to next week... and my future in general.

Please remember, you are not in this alone. We are in this together. If we just do our best and take it one day at a time, we will see results. I'm already seeing results and I'm only 4 days into this so let's be there for each other. Whatever you do, don't give up!

Day 3

I remember this show I watched about three years ago. It was called 'How I lost 100 Pounds.' Even though I didn't stick to eating healthy at the time, all of the inspiring stories stuck with me. One of the people featured was a woman that announced to her family one night at the dinner table that she was going to start running. Everybody just looked at her. Because of her size noone could picture her walking long distances, let alone running anywhere.

Well, the next day, she went outside and ran. She only made it several feet and ended up walking the rest of the way, but she got right back out there the next day. She continued day after day after day until she could walk a block, then run a block, walk a block then run a block. She did this until she was able to run beyond a block to two blocks, then three, then four without stopping. The next thing you know, she was running a whole mile. The same woman is now running marathons and looks absolutely amazing. Do you know what I remember the most? She didn't give up even when her neighbors laughed at the fat woman that could barely make it a half a block. She still hung in there.

With that story in mind, last night, I walked/ran again on the treadmill. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill...(more walking of course)... and 10 minutes on the machines. I still can't do more than one minute on the elliptical machine, but I'm not giving up.

Inspiration picture: Mo'Nique



Weight: 188 ( I checked the scale 3 times to make sure I was seeing right. This is only my third day, so I don't understand how I could have lost 8 pounds so fast... not that I'm complaining. I think my body's in shock. I've been sticking to around 1250 calories a day and exercising, but I still didn't expect that.
Glucose: 270 (Now this is better than yesterday. My glucose is still dangerously high, but it's down by almost 30 points. I'm hoping that when I see my endocrinologist again in 2 months, she won't still want to put me on insulin. I hate needles and I don't want to have to give myself a shot every day).

Daily Food Journal:
Breakfast: Special K with berries and rice milk with decaf
Snack: 1 hard boiled egg
Lunch: Garlic hummus with romaine lettuce & tomatoes on whole wheat, 1 apple
Dinner: 2 pieces of beer battered fish tenders and 2 cups of broccoli
with a hot cup of green tea and 2 teaspoons of honey

Last night I ran for 2 minutes on the treadmill, which is a minute more than I could do yesterday. Then I walked for awhile then I ran another 2 minutes... walked a lot more then ran again. It feels really good to be exercising again.

Also, tonight, I walked around the track with my kids. That's me all ready for my work out.

 I actually walked for an hour and then we did some stretching exercises. I know my muscles are going to be talking to me in the morning since they're already mumbling now.

Notes: I was hungry last night before I went to bed... not overly hungry... but I wanted something. Here's the thing, I was a huge all day snacker before my lifestyle change 3 days ago and more than likely, it's going to be a hard habit to break. My husband told me that just because I wanted a snack didn't mean that I had to eat and that sometimes it was actually okay to be hungry. He was right and after a while I fell asleep with no problem, but I woke up hungrier...LoL

Day 2

When I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office, I discovered that my weight had shot up to almost 200 pounds. I was embarrassed then I was depressed and even my favorite foods didn't lift my spirits. About three weeks ago, I bought this food journal at Five Below for $3.00. Good deal, huh? Although I didn't use it at the time, I knew that I was going to turn my life around, I just didn't know exactly when. Of course, this is only my second day on my eating healthier journey, but I'm trying to learn all I can to accomplish my goal. I'm hoping to motivate and encourage not only myself, but anyone reading this blog. Anyway, I'd like to share a little bit about what the journal says about food tracking.

"First, writing down everything you eat helps you understand exactly what foods, and how many calories, you're putting in your body. So if you lose, gain, or plateau from one week to the next, you have a written record of how you got there, and you can plan for the results you want."

"Second, tracking every meal, snack, and beverage you consume keeps you honest about all those little tastes and nibbles that occur throughout the day and makes you accountable for the results. Accountability is key to losing weight."

This is what the tracking pages looks like inside the journal.



"If your not accountable for what you're eating, you won't lose weight. It is imperative to keep track of the number of calories you take in and burn off through exercise each day, especially when you're just getting started."

Now, if you don't have this particular book at home, no worries... don't let that stop you. You can use anything to keep track of your progress. Legal pads, a notebook, a small pad... whatever works... and be honest about every bite.



Inspiration picture:



Glucose: 299

Daily Food Journal:
I had all the exact things for breakfast, lunch and dinner that I had yesterday. What can I say, I picked a lot of my favorites and I absolutely love hummus and brocolli).
Notes: Eating a sandwich with an apple and not potato chips is definitely going to take some getting used to. Also, I haven't had any sweets since yesterday. So far, the box of raisins that I've been snacking on has helped to satisfy my sweet tooth and that's only 100 calories. The honey in the green tea is sweet, too.

The journey begins

This picture pretty much sums up exactly how I feel. The numbers on the scale have steadily gotten larger down through the years, along with my waistline and it's time for me to really get serious about my health. Not to mention, I'm a diabetic with a fierce love of sweets, which I have daily. I'm always terrified to use my meter because my numbers are always through the roof. My doctor wants to put me on insulin, but I begged her to hold off and give me a couple of months to do better. It's not the first time I had that conversation with my doctor and she's afraid that my kidneys, eyesight, heart, etc. are being affected. I work with a guy that's diabetic who needs a kidney and I don't want that to be me in the future. So right now, I'm taking a vow.

From this point forward, I'm devoting myself to eat more clean foods and to live a healthier lifestyle. Whew! I said that out loud, didn't I. That's okay. It's all good. Now I'm obligated to stick to it... which is exactly what I want. I know this isn't going to be an easy journey, but I'm hoping that this blog will help keep me, (and anyone out there that happens to stumble across it), motivated. In the words of Jack LaLanne, "Your body is your most priceless possession; you've got to take care of it."

Inspiration picture: Jennifer Hudson



So, this is day one... here goes. I figure I'll post my glucose readings along with what I'm eating day to day.

Weight: 196 -  Gluclose: 299 - (I put these numbers in bold print so that I can't hide from the truth anymore).

Daily Food Journal:
Breakfast: Special K with berries, rice milk and decaf
Snack: 1 Orange
Lunch: Tomato basil hummus, lettuce, tomato's on whole wheat bread and 1 apple
Snack: box of raisins
Dinner: 2 pieces of beer battered fish tenders and brocolli (the frozen kind, I had the whole box)

There's a gym at the apartments where I live. Last night, I tried the elliptical machine. I only lasted 1 minute. I did however walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes and every 4 or 5 minutes, I ran for 1 minute. That's about all I could manage, but I thought it was a good start.

Notes: I probably shouldn't have had so much brocolli, but when I measured the brocolli once it was cooked, it was exactly 2 cups. I don't think 2 cups of veggies is a bad thing, but I was really stuffed afterwards, though. The funny thing is, I'm usually full from a second helping of dinner or from extra sweets. Overall, I feel good about my first day. New life... new me.